I would disagree. Types like `Result<T,E>` or `Option<T>` exist purely for the user; the compiler doesn't care that there is a convention for errors, nor would

I would disagree. Types like `Result<T,E>` or `Option<T>` exist purely for the user; the compiler doesn't care that there is a convention for errors, nor would it be that bad for a compiler to have `nil` (there are certainly a bunch of compilers that can handle it). There are a number of convenience types available such as `Rc` which does reference counting. If `Rc` didn't exist, you could still survive and write the same applications, it's just that it would be more cumbersome.